As I’ve mentioned a fewtimesbefore, Dietrich Riley is a key undecided recruit that Brian Kelly and the Irish coaching staff are recruiting hard. While many worried that the Irish have fallen out of contention for Riley’s signature, our friends over at IrishSportsDaily.com relayed along an update from ESPN’s West Coast recruiting maven Greg Biggins:

“I loved coach Kelly,” Riley told Biggins. He took an official visit to South Bend during the fall for the USC game. “I like the energy. Very personable guy. My family liked him. I like the direction he’s going to take the program.”

Kelly also told Riley he’d like to see him play on the offensive side of the ball. Ole Miss is saying the same thing. As a senior Riley had 64 tackles, three interceptions and six passes broken up. On offense, he had 125 carries for 899 yards and nine touchdowns, while adding 29 receptions for 436 yards and five more scores. He sat out the second half of many contests because of blow-outs victories.

“I’m very interested in and intrigued about the idea of playing offense in college, running back or receiver,” Riley said. “That was always kind of my first love, playing offense in college.”

Irish fans have to feel good about the complimentary words Riley had to say about Kelly and his recruiting efforts. There’s no substitute for time in building a relationship with recruits, but at least Kelly’s effectively pitching the program.